We’ve Got Issues

That is, we’ve got magazine issues. Two, in fact! You guys have probably spotted these already since we’re a little late in mentioning them here, but our most recent issues of Do It Yourself magazine and Richmond’s R. Home magazine are both currently on newsstands. But of course we’ll give you a peek at both of them right here…

Let’s start with Better Homes & Garden’s Do It Yourself mag. It’s the third and final installment of our before & after series. They covered our living/dining room and kitchen transformations in their Spring issue and followed up with our sunroom, den and laundry makeover in the Summer issue. Now, in the Fall (woah, already?) issue we’re sharing a few bedroom before and afters. Check out the spreads below, and click here to read the

We especially love this spread on our dining-room-turned-third-bedroom because they drew in a white dotted line where the doorway to the kitchen used to be. Why hadn’t we ever thought of doing that to illustrate the change? Guess that’s why they’re the pros…

And although this is the last of our three-part series, it doesn’t mean you won’t be seeing our permasmiles in Do It Yourself in the coming months. We’re thrilled to announce that we’re actually kicking off a regular column with them! It’ll be called “He Said, She Said” and we’ll be helping couples solve their home-related disputes from both sides of the gender line. So if you and your honey aren’t seeing eye to eye about a home improvement project or a decorating idea, DIY is already accepting questions for our column via email at: diy [at] meredith [dot] com.

And now for the latest issue of Richmond’s magazine, which actually hit newsstands about a month ago (again, we know, we’re a bit behind). How beautiful is their latest cover, btw?

This issue’s theme was all about everyone’s favorite summertime activity – vacationing! So we whipped out some of our favorite ideas for commemorating your travels once you’ve returned home and are looking for an excuse to daydream about being somewhere else again. From using vacation maps as photo mats to collecting matchbooks everywhere you go (and popping them into a glass apothecary jar) there are so many ways to keep your travel adventures alive once you get back home. Heck, you can even send yourself a post card about all the fun you’ve had and keep them displayed in a decorative tray or glass bowl so you’ll never forget that amazing dinner or scenic hike you’ve enjoyed. For more ideas, just click on the spread below to see our column at a readable size:

So that’s a glance at our latest glossy adventures. You know we’re still kind of in shock to get the opportunity to write for such amazing publications, right? Thanks Do It Yourself and R. Home magazine for letting us have so much fun! We hope you guys have a chance to check them out in real life sometime soon (so you can truly enjoy them in all of their glossy glory). And we’d love to hear some of the ways you display your travel keepsakes or vacation photos. We’re sure you’ve been to far more exotic places than us, and we’d love to hear how you brought little pieces of those trips home with you each time. Share and share alike.

Chris- We do actually make taking a photo in the same pose somewhat of a vacation tradition but it’s actually just John holding his arm out and snapping a photo of both of us (his unbelievably long arms can get us both in the photo and often don’t even look like a my-arm-took-this-shot photograph). You can see a few of those photos throughout our blog on vacation posts since there’s rarely anyone else around to snap a shot of us so we’re always standing in the exact same order and John uses the same arm to snap the picture every time. Although jumping or kissing photos from across the globe would be a lot of fun too!

Brandy- Thanks girl! Oh and everyone reading this should head over to Brandy’s new blog: to see her amazing collection of inspiration and fun (she even did a little feature on us that we’re still smiling about).

Congrats on the new column! I love the idea of postcards in a vase since I collect postcards from my travels but they are just in a box in the closet (well, four are in a serving tray but the rest aren’t displayed…yet!).

Oh my gosh, you guys are so famous! You should start selling your autographs in your store ;)

We don’t vacation much of anywhere, but once or twice I’ve taken a baby food jar filled with sand home from the beach. And I’m in the process of using that and other memorabilia into shadowboxes (one for each state)!

Congrats! I just love checking in daily to see what you’re up to. I like the map-mat idea and hope to use it soon for pics from a recent trip to FL. Again, congratulations on the new column and thank you for all the ideas!

Y’all are the bomb.com, I swear! Congrats on the new column! That sure will be fun to read. :)

I actually tore out your R. Home photo + vacation map matte idea as a super fun and creative way for us to memorialize our many trips. I’m still getting and enjoying the mag from <a href=" from y'all the R. Home for the Holidays event tickets last December.

Those travel memento/picture ideas are great. We just took a trip to Cape Cod & Boston in June and I have a bunch of items I kept just sitting around…time to make some cool art out of them. Thanks, guys.

I have used the post card idea before, but have my friends send me post cards when they are on trips (since we don’t take much). I call myself a ‘vicarious traveler’ and have the post cards displayed in a tray right now. Love the idea for the maps as a mat too. I am taking old antique postcards from out city and using them as artwork in the new room downstairs and I could take an old map and make black/white copies to use as the matting. And congrats on the new column; you guys rock!

We’ve been collection matchbooks from restaurants and hotels for about three years now and it’s so fun to shake the container so the view changes every now and then. It’s amazing how many memories are tied to those little things!

I’m so excited to read about your new magazine column because I recently realized as my fiance and I try to build a home together, that we do NOT share the same decorating taste at all. (ie, I enjoy displaying black and white sentimental photos, while he prefers to display his plastic Simpsons’ and Star Wars figurines; on a more serious and less biased note, I prefer a more contemporary style while he prefers a more traditional flair.) Hopefully with some fresh ideas and compromise we can eventually find a home-style that suits us both and doesn’t look too crazy! :)
As always, you give me hope–Thank you!! :)

Ok, I am admitting my age here, but we have collected matchbooks ever since we met and began traveling together 32 years ago (married 29). We have an enormous glass jar full of matches collected from our life together and it is great fun to dig out a book and try to remember when we ate at that place–what trip, what meal.

Our blue master bedroom duvet is from West Elm (they no longer sell it but you might try ebay) and our third bedroom’s daybed duvet is from Designers Guild. You can check out our House Tour tab under the header and click the link that says “room by room source list” to see where everything in our home came from! Happy hunting…

Congrats on your new column! How exciting! I have been trying to figure out how you guys did that neat trick where you click on the issue and it magnifies the pages? Thanks and looking forward to seeing you guys again in upcoming issues.